DETROIT -- Call the subpar afternoon for Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson what you want. He played, was in uniform and didn't have anywhere near the impact he usually has in the Lions' passing game.

The explanations could vary: The Giants shut him down. Injuries limited the league's best wide receiver. Lions QB Matthew Stafford stopped Megatron by not looking often enough in his direction.

It doesn't really matter how it's categorized now. Johnson was limited to three catches for 43 yards in the Lions' biggest game of the season. Their playoff lives were on the line.

The Giants kept Johnson under control when he was on the field, which was less than normal because of ankle and knee injuries. The All-Pro wide receiver played 48 of Detroit's 85 offensive snaps. They did it with a new system that defensive coordinator Perry Fewell installed, with cornerback Prince Amukamara at times following him around the field.

“It was just new, I’m used to just staying on the right side, getting the calls and just lining up,” Amukamara said. “But now, I have to wait for the call to come in and wait to see if anyone was on the field or where he was at.”

When he was on the field, Johnson just didn’t get the ball thrown in his direction as often as usual. He was targeted four times. That is the fewest of any game in which he’s dressed since Week 14 of the 2011 season. Johnson averages more than 11 targets per game this season.

“Stafford just didn’t go to him a lot in this game and he wasn’t in a lot,” Amukamara said. “But when he was in, we did a great job with our safeties knowing where he was.”

After Johnson missed practice Wednesday and Thursday, there were times in the Giants’ 23-20 overtime victory in Detroit that he had to tap out. He meandered to the sideline like an 80-year-old whose arthritis had flared. Megatron hardly looked indestructible. He seemed stiff and slow.

There’s no getting around it. Johnson was not feeling himself.

“Calvin is a tough guy. He tried to do whatever he could,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. “Calvin’s beat up. … He tried to contribute what he could. It was very difficult for him. We tried to use him in the red zone and some third downs and things like that. He was nowhere near 100 percent.”

Amukamara made it even more difficult as the game wore on. He played Johnson physically at the line of scrimmage. He bumped and banged him whenever possible. It seemed to have an effect later in the game.

Johnson was on the sideline during key plays in the second half and overtime. When he was on the field, the Giants put one, two, three defenders on the 6-foot-5, 236-pound wideout.

GIANTS NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

“We did some good things in the red zone with our defensive structure to try to force the quarterback t not even think about going over there,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “Then in the field we had some circumstance where we were able to have at least a guy or a guy-and-a-half or someone to cover him over the top.”

It worked. Johnson had one of his least productive games of the season, and no catches or targets in the second half. Injured or not, that was a success for Amukamara and the Giants.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.